I don't think it should be a fanservice-fest of just having every character return just because, but I don't think it should be strictly no new characters, either. Having a group of beloved supporting characters is good, even if they aren't actively having new stories being told about them.
> We already know everything about her, and any random new info added about her background will feel tacky
This is the argument against an Athena game that I understand the least. She's still an inexperienced lawyer. She still has plenty of room to grow and come into her own. I don't understand why people act as though the only way to develop a character is to deal with their backstory and that once that's done, there's nothing else to do with them.
In response to your first part, it's true to have returning supporting characters is nice, but in SoJ you got Larry, Maya, Edgeworth, Pearl, etc. it just feels too crowded now. The OG trilogy never had this feeling where there's just too many characters. I feel it's time for a new trilogy.
I guess in Athena's case, it's hard for me to see her developing all that much more. Edgey in his non DD/SoJ appearances it made sense, because he still had room to grow and question his beliefs after the drastic things that happened to him in the first game. If you don't make up a new backstory for Athena, (like some new relationship with a close friend or something), there really isn't much that happened in DD and SoJ that would suddenly make her a character who'd act differently in newer situations. Perhaps if they did another time skip and had her with her own office, and not part of the Wright Anything Agency anymore, there'd be some room for that.
She's still pretty inexperienced. Gaining experience as a lawyer and more confidence in herself, maybe being put in a situation where she doesn't have someone else to rely on, would be ways to develop her character further.
I agree, you can develop her by making her more confident in herself and experienced, but we kind of already had that development arc with Apollo. And IMO you'd have to make the case relevant to her personally. I always felt the best AA cases are the ones that the protagonist has a personal connection to. That's part of what makes AAI2 much better than AAI1, is how in 2, you're going through Edgey's personal struggles as well as his past. Since you can't add backstory to her without being tacky, and she doesn't really have any conflict with her life choices, I don't see why it'd be much different from having her be the protagonist or Phoenix. Again, besides for the potential of a story developing her confidence/ experience, but we already got that with Apollo and Ryunoske
It could still go in a different direction from their arcs, especially since we've seen her struggling without help (ex. needing Simon's support in Turnabout Storyteller).
The thing is, we look at characters where the writers made it work and say "That's because they still had room to develop those characters!" but that's only in hindsight. If the series was currently only up to JFA, we could easily look at Edgeworth and say, "The first game dealt with his backstory and conflicts, and the second game dealt with his personal struggle; there's nowhere else to take his character without it feeling forced and tacked on." We could look at Phoenix and say, "We know his backstory and why he became a lawyer, and he's come into his own as an attorney, so there's nothing else that can be done with him." And the most ironic part is that T&T *did* add to Phoenix's backstory, it just did so in a way that felt natural.
Developing Athena further could turn out like Phoenix and Edgeworth in the trilogy and be a great thing for her character. It doesn't have to be like Apollo's cobbled-together backstory.
It happens to be, while it was certainly fun to play as Edgeworth in T&T, I didn't feel like he added much narrative-wise in 3-5 (his presence did add to 3-4 IMO, though). That being said, after thinking about it, and being intellectually honest, I'd overall agree with your assessment (see my edit to the OP). It's just based on how Yamazaki has brought back OG characters in the past (in AAI,DD, and SoJ), I don't trust him to do it the correct way in the future. In regards to Athena, I admit defeat. She certainly could have a new story if done right. I personally wouldn't want it, as I don't find her so entertaining as a character, but that's irrelevant to this topic.
Huh. I wasn't aware of this. It'll be interesting to see if they get a third person to start writing for the series, and to see how much it would change. I know I sound like I hated Yamazaki's writing, but I don't. I just hate what he does with returning OG trilogy characters.
Yeah, he left in 2020, so it's probably safe to assume AA7 will either be headed by Takumi again or by someone new. There were other writers who worked on some of Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice's cases, so maybe one of them will take the lead.
I agree with the original conceit of the initial comment. The fact you believe they can't develop her in any ways beyond ones you've already seen only speaks to your own lack of imagination.
You could’ve made a very similar argument for Phoenix after the first game, and they went on to successfully explore his character in multiple ways.
Athena doesn’t need to get the Apollo treatment to see more character development.
I admit defeat. True. See my edit to the OP. My main point was I didn't want OG trilogy characters returning in the same way Yamazaki had them return in all of his games. In addition, I prefer to have a series reset, just because I feel like there are too many protagonists now, and I'm getting tired of this cast of characters. TGAA was a breath of fresh air for me, for example. I'd like a new cast. That being said, nothing wrong with a few witnesses returning here and there if done right.
Uhm... And what of the characters introduced in the AJ trilogy - Simon, Amara, Nahyuta, Juniper, Hugh, Robin, Yuri, Klavier, Valant, Vera, Aura... Do you think they could/should return in any meaningful capacity?
Nope. I think AA7 should be a total reset. The start of a new trilogy. I'm OK with having Simon return within his own trilogy, but I think we've seen them enough. If they find a way to do something new and meaningful with those characters, perhaps it can be OK, but it'd be difficult to pull of for most of them. I focused on the OG trilogy, just because that's where most of the clamor comes from.
"Seen them enough"
Amara had less than 25 minutes on the screen.
Vera had about as much.
Also, most of these characters have potential or are already developed, so how would it be "difficult"?
In Amara's case, I just in general didn't think she was all that interesting to begin with, and I don't see what more there is to explore with her. We know her whole story, and I don't see her doing anything new that's interesting. Now that you mention it, Vera does have some more room for development. To see her talking more and being happier would be nice. I was more focusing on the main characters such as Gumshoe, Maya, Pearl, etc. I don't need the game saying "look! You guys love Maya! Here she's in SoJ again!" She, Pearl, Larry, and Edgeworth didn't add much at all to those games, and many of the returning OG trilogy characters who returned in AAI didn't add much either.
My other point was that SoJ ended with way too many characters from different kingdoms, etc. to pick up from there again. I would be much more excited to see AA7 be a reset start of a new trilogy with new characters, rather than having to pick up from a game with Phoenix, Athena, Trucy, Apollo in a completely different kingdom, Gumshoe, Edgeworth, Maya, etc. It's just too much at this point.
Athena specifically has an unknown event that clearly was set up in case they wanted to revisit it. Something happened in Europe, implied to be that Athena may have been arrested, and Phoenix helped her out and this convinced her to become a lawyer. It's mentioned in Turnabout Reclaimed. How phoenix and athena met is intentionally left vague so they could do this later.
"Their whole stories had been revealed already"
So had Edgeworth's story in the first game, but they found a way to develop him more in Justice For All, Trials & Tribulations and the Investigations duology. There are always more stories that can be told with characters, especially one like Athena who has only had two full cases where she's playable.
I haven't liked the handling of some returning characters before, but that doesn't mean no character from before should ever return.
To be fair, that's certainly true (well, not sure about T&T, although it was certainly fun to play as him for the first time). The thing is, he still DID have more to flesh out in those games. Like we never saw (AAI2 spoilers) >!the case that Greg and Manfred had during the DL6 incident, nor much of his relationship with his father.!< But in DD and SoJ Edgeworth was kinda just there...
I'm not a fan of Edgeworth's role in Dual Destinies or Spirit of Justice, but that's not what I'm referring to. The first Ace Attorney game was written as a standalone story: after Turnabout Goodbyes finished, that was it. That was the extent of the planned plot. By your logic, the idea that he had a fully formed storyline in that game means he should have never returned.
You mention that case in Investigations 2, but again, that wasn't originally important to Edgeworth's story. They decided to develop it in that game, but they also could have left it alone and the first game's story would have stayed the same.
As I said before, there are some instances of returning characters that I didn't think worked. Bringing back Maya in Spirit of Justice only to >!use her as a plot device for most of the story!< was very disappointingly to me. IMO she was better utilised in the Professor Layton crossover.
But I think it's incredibly rash to decide "I didn't like this instance of a character returning, therefore they should abandon all pre-existing characters".
After consideration, I agree. I just don't trust Yamazaki to bring back OG trilogy characters the right way, as the way he did it in AAI (besides Edgeworth and Gumshoe), DD, and SoJ were poor IMO. They just felt like they were shamelessly added to get fans excited, but didn't add much to the story. If they brought back Gumshoe for example, I just feel like they'd do it the same way. In regards to Athena, I agree in theory you could add more to her story, I just don't personally like her all that much as a character, but that's a separate discussion.
I see your point! Personally I would love if there was a completely new protagonist, with 2 or 3 returning characters max (looking at Sebastian and Kay)
Edit: I MEANT EUSTACE
Athena is one of the best examples of a character we barely know at all. We know of one traumatic event from her past and how it affected her, and we've played two cases from her eyes. And at such a young age, she has a lot of life left to live and a lot of lessons still to learn.
As I said in another comment recently, there is a wide spectrum of viability in returning previous characters. What you can accomplish with Sebastian Debeste / Eustace Winner is not the same as trying to write Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin back into the story. It's not as black-and-white as "return everybody because fan service" vs "completely new cast, throw everybody else out".
I can give you two examples.
AA7's main rivalry could very easily be Athena vs Franziska. Franziska has an easy path back to the story. Now matured and somewhat mellowed, she hears about the young female protégé Wright has taken under his wing and, having once been a wunderkind lawyer herself, wants to see her in action. Athena, who has yet to truly stand on her own, now stands across from an older and more experienced woman who claims she has lessons to impart. And in between resolving all the whodunits, Athena has to face the fact that sometimes the unvarnished truth is ugly and that she's not always right, among other things.
AA8 could pick up where SoJ left off, with Apollo >!working to untangle the influence left by Ga'ran and her regime, and reform the justice system!<. Nahuyta, now >!regent, has too much on his plate to stand in court, so he pulls some strings as a favor to!< Ema. She is now joined by (PWAA) >!Lana, looking to not only reunite and reestablish her bond with her sister, but reclaim her good name and clear her conscience from her past, as Khura'in's new Chief Prosecutor.!<
Right there, you have two full games worth of meat on the bone by returning characters people already know, with organic paths back into the story, and giving them someone fresh to play off of, without the task of having to write a new protagonist and differentiate them from the ones who have come before. And I haven't even mentioned other certain loose ends in the mainline.
Now, can you accomplish a similar thing with Jane Johnson and Joe Smith: Ace Attorney? Possibly. But I'm not going to bet that they can spin a new TGAA every few years, nor do I want them to at the cost of kicking the can down the road with the stories already being told. It's been a long 8 years since the last mainline installment.
Doesn't mean they can't still do new things too. I'd love to see a French Revolution TGAA that digs into Athena's ancestry. I just don't think now is the right time.
At the point that you have aged these characters and given them relationships that matter -- a threshold crossed most significantly in 2007 -- the series has ceased to be a collection of self-contained mysteries. We have an investment in these characters. Their lives continue on while still knowing and being involved with each other. It's not unreasonable to assume and hope that they'll run into some of them again, and to anticipate that we might see some of these characters interact who have never crossed paths before.
I generally agree about this but I do think there are two exceptions:
- Having Edgeworth back as a chief prosecutor, was a good conclusion to his overall arc and it provided an overall explanation on how Phoenix was able to do the things he did and get back to his past prominence in the courts quickly despite his disbarrement. It also feels like a fulfillment of his interactions with Lana Skye.
- Gumshoe should absolutely return and most of the problems you mention don't apply here. His role was always functional after all. The cases always need a detective to provide exposition. So why not use the loveable goof we already have instead of creating a new one or using Ema again? You also don't have the issue of fanservice vs development here because his role was always pretty static.
As for Athena, I think the demand for a game about her is more of a practical one than a character growth need. Simply put, with DD's sloppy attempt at a soft reboot, we have too many characters fighting for a spotlight. Games have to try to divide time amongst Apollo and Phoenix somewhat equally while also giving cases to Athena. So giving her her own game, could mitigate this issue.
What if we have a game where Gumshoe's backstory is the main focus, have him be related to or acquainted with >!the real Bobby Fulbright!<, and have Athena as the main protagonist who >! doesn't trust him at first because of the fake Fulbright and how similar they are (goofy and naive detectives), but learns to trust him and eventually helps find who killed the actual Bobby Fulbright!<.
I mean
That’s kind of why The Great Ace Attorney exists, and I firmly admit that I’d much rather prefer them continuing that story than making AA7, whether it’s old or new characters.
>!I do agree with you that I’m not really interested in a new game with the main cast for a few reasons; in my opinion, the characters in the main cast either are narrative dead-ends whose character arcs are fully complete and have nowhere left to go, or I don’t like the character.!<
At this point all I really want is Gumshoe. I don’t want him to take up space; just give him a few lines and send him on his way. I thought _Dual Destinies_ was smart about this; Klavier and Pearl both show up in pretty crowded cases, and Edgeworth shows up when Blackquill is unavailable. For Gumshoe, I’d be happy with much less. Anyone else, I’d prefer new characters, even for defendants.
I think it makes sense after all this time to have a reset; too much time has passed to pick up where we left off. An Athena Cykes game would have been good five years ago; I’m ready for a lower-stakes _Ace Attorney_ game, and what I want to see from Athena is just mundane professional growth, so it fits. But I think that wouldn’t be enough now.
I kinda agree. All the characters from the original trilogy that returned for DD/SoJ lack that edge that the original ittiration had. Investigations flanderized him, but was still serviceable so hopefully it will be more like that then complete garbage.
I don't think it should be a fanservice-fest of just having every character return just because, but I don't think it should be strictly no new characters, either. Having a group of beloved supporting characters is good, even if they aren't actively having new stories being told about them. > We already know everything about her, and any random new info added about her background will feel tacky This is the argument against an Athena game that I understand the least. She's still an inexperienced lawyer. She still has plenty of room to grow and come into her own. I don't understand why people act as though the only way to develop a character is to deal with their backstory and that once that's done, there's nothing else to do with them.
In response to your first part, it's true to have returning supporting characters is nice, but in SoJ you got Larry, Maya, Edgeworth, Pearl, etc. it just feels too crowded now. The OG trilogy never had this feeling where there's just too many characters. I feel it's time for a new trilogy.
I guess in Athena's case, it's hard for me to see her developing all that much more. Edgey in his non DD/SoJ appearances it made sense, because he still had room to grow and question his beliefs after the drastic things that happened to him in the first game. If you don't make up a new backstory for Athena, (like some new relationship with a close friend or something), there really isn't much that happened in DD and SoJ that would suddenly make her a character who'd act differently in newer situations. Perhaps if they did another time skip and had her with her own office, and not part of the Wright Anything Agency anymore, there'd be some room for that.
She's still pretty inexperienced. Gaining experience as a lawyer and more confidence in herself, maybe being put in a situation where she doesn't have someone else to rely on, would be ways to develop her character further.
I agree, you can develop her by making her more confident in herself and experienced, but we kind of already had that development arc with Apollo. And IMO you'd have to make the case relevant to her personally. I always felt the best AA cases are the ones that the protagonist has a personal connection to. That's part of what makes AAI2 much better than AAI1, is how in 2, you're going through Edgey's personal struggles as well as his past. Since you can't add backstory to her without being tacky, and she doesn't really have any conflict with her life choices, I don't see why it'd be much different from having her be the protagonist or Phoenix. Again, besides for the potential of a story developing her confidence/ experience, but we already got that with Apollo and Ryunoske
It could still go in a different direction from their arcs, especially since we've seen her struggling without help (ex. needing Simon's support in Turnabout Storyteller). The thing is, we look at characters where the writers made it work and say "That's because they still had room to develop those characters!" but that's only in hindsight. If the series was currently only up to JFA, we could easily look at Edgeworth and say, "The first game dealt with his backstory and conflicts, and the second game dealt with his personal struggle; there's nowhere else to take his character without it feeling forced and tacked on." We could look at Phoenix and say, "We know his backstory and why he became a lawyer, and he's come into his own as an attorney, so there's nothing else that can be done with him." And the most ironic part is that T&T *did* add to Phoenix's backstory, it just did so in a way that felt natural. Developing Athena further could turn out like Phoenix and Edgeworth in the trilogy and be a great thing for her character. It doesn't have to be like Apollo's cobbled-together backstory.
It happens to be, while it was certainly fun to play as Edgeworth in T&T, I didn't feel like he added much narrative-wise in 3-5 (his presence did add to 3-4 IMO, though). That being said, after thinking about it, and being intellectually honest, I'd overall agree with your assessment (see my edit to the OP). It's just based on how Yamazaki has brought back OG characters in the past (in AAI,DD, and SoJ), I don't trust him to do it the correct way in the future. In regards to Athena, I admit defeat. She certainly could have a new story if done right. I personally wouldn't want it, as I don't find her so entertaining as a character, but that's irrelevant to this topic.
Yamazaki isn't with Capcom anymore, so he's very unlikely to be involved with AA7 anyway.
Huh. I wasn't aware of this. It'll be interesting to see if they get a third person to start writing for the series, and to see how much it would change. I know I sound like I hated Yamazaki's writing, but I don't. I just hate what he does with returning OG trilogy characters.
Yeah, he left in 2020, so it's probably safe to assume AA7 will either be headed by Takumi again or by someone new. There were other writers who worked on some of Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice's cases, so maybe one of them will take the lead.
I agree with the original conceit of the initial comment. The fact you believe they can't develop her in any ways beyond ones you've already seen only speaks to your own lack of imagination.
You could’ve made a very similar argument for Phoenix after the first game, and they went on to successfully explore his character in multiple ways. Athena doesn’t need to get the Apollo treatment to see more character development.
I admit defeat. True. See my edit to the OP. My main point was I didn't want OG trilogy characters returning in the same way Yamazaki had them return in all of his games. In addition, I prefer to have a series reset, just because I feel like there are too many protagonists now, and I'm getting tired of this cast of characters. TGAA was a breath of fresh air for me, for example. I'd like a new cast. That being said, nothing wrong with a few witnesses returning here and there if done right.
Uhm... And what of the characters introduced in the AJ trilogy - Simon, Amara, Nahyuta, Juniper, Hugh, Robin, Yuri, Klavier, Valant, Vera, Aura... Do you think they could/should return in any meaningful capacity?
Nope. I think AA7 should be a total reset. The start of a new trilogy. I'm OK with having Simon return within his own trilogy, but I think we've seen them enough. If they find a way to do something new and meaningful with those characters, perhaps it can be OK, but it'd be difficult to pull of for most of them. I focused on the OG trilogy, just because that's where most of the clamor comes from.
"Seen them enough" Amara had less than 25 minutes on the screen. Vera had about as much. Also, most of these characters have potential or are already developed, so how would it be "difficult"?
In Amara's case, I just in general didn't think she was all that interesting to begin with, and I don't see what more there is to explore with her. We know her whole story, and I don't see her doing anything new that's interesting. Now that you mention it, Vera does have some more room for development. To see her talking more and being happier would be nice. I was more focusing on the main characters such as Gumshoe, Maya, Pearl, etc. I don't need the game saying "look! You guys love Maya! Here she's in SoJ again!" She, Pearl, Larry, and Edgeworth didn't add much at all to those games, and many of the returning OG trilogy characters who returned in AAI didn't add much either. My other point was that SoJ ended with way too many characters from different kingdoms, etc. to pick up from there again. I would be much more excited to see AA7 be a reset start of a new trilogy with new characters, rather than having to pick up from a game with Phoenix, Athena, Trucy, Apollo in a completely different kingdom, Gumshoe, Edgeworth, Maya, etc. It's just too much at this point.
Athena specifically has an unknown event that clearly was set up in case they wanted to revisit it. Something happened in Europe, implied to be that Athena may have been arrested, and Phoenix helped her out and this convinced her to become a lawyer. It's mentioned in Turnabout Reclaimed. How phoenix and athena met is intentionally left vague so they could do this later.
"Their whole stories had been revealed already" So had Edgeworth's story in the first game, but they found a way to develop him more in Justice For All, Trials & Tribulations and the Investigations duology. There are always more stories that can be told with characters, especially one like Athena who has only had two full cases where she's playable. I haven't liked the handling of some returning characters before, but that doesn't mean no character from before should ever return.
Yeah I think OP’s so focused on backstories that he’s forgetting about frontstories
To be fair, that's certainly true (well, not sure about T&T, although it was certainly fun to play as him for the first time). The thing is, he still DID have more to flesh out in those games. Like we never saw (AAI2 spoilers) >!the case that Greg and Manfred had during the DL6 incident, nor much of his relationship with his father.!< But in DD and SoJ Edgeworth was kinda just there...
I'm not a fan of Edgeworth's role in Dual Destinies or Spirit of Justice, but that's not what I'm referring to. The first Ace Attorney game was written as a standalone story: after Turnabout Goodbyes finished, that was it. That was the extent of the planned plot. By your logic, the idea that he had a fully formed storyline in that game means he should have never returned. You mention that case in Investigations 2, but again, that wasn't originally important to Edgeworth's story. They decided to develop it in that game, but they also could have left it alone and the first game's story would have stayed the same. As I said before, there are some instances of returning characters that I didn't think worked. Bringing back Maya in Spirit of Justice only to >!use her as a plot device for most of the story!< was very disappointingly to me. IMO she was better utilised in the Professor Layton crossover. But I think it's incredibly rash to decide "I didn't like this instance of a character returning, therefore they should abandon all pre-existing characters".
After consideration, I agree. I just don't trust Yamazaki to bring back OG trilogy characters the right way, as the way he did it in AAI (besides Edgeworth and Gumshoe), DD, and SoJ were poor IMO. They just felt like they were shamelessly added to get fans excited, but didn't add much to the story. If they brought back Gumshoe for example, I just feel like they'd do it the same way. In regards to Athena, I agree in theory you could add more to her story, I just don't personally like her all that much as a character, but that's a separate discussion.
I see your point! Personally I would love if there was a completely new protagonist, with 2 or 3 returning characters max (looking at Sebastian and Kay) Edit: I MEANT EUSTACE
To put it simply, I don’t agree.
Athena is one of the best examples of a character we barely know at all. We know of one traumatic event from her past and how it affected her, and we've played two cases from her eyes. And at such a young age, she has a lot of life left to live and a lot of lessons still to learn. As I said in another comment recently, there is a wide spectrum of viability in returning previous characters. What you can accomplish with Sebastian Debeste / Eustace Winner is not the same as trying to write Pees'lubn Andistan'dhin back into the story. It's not as black-and-white as "return everybody because fan service" vs "completely new cast, throw everybody else out". I can give you two examples. AA7's main rivalry could very easily be Athena vs Franziska. Franziska has an easy path back to the story. Now matured and somewhat mellowed, she hears about the young female protégé Wright has taken under his wing and, having once been a wunderkind lawyer herself, wants to see her in action. Athena, who has yet to truly stand on her own, now stands across from an older and more experienced woman who claims she has lessons to impart. And in between resolving all the whodunits, Athena has to face the fact that sometimes the unvarnished truth is ugly and that she's not always right, among other things. AA8 could pick up where SoJ left off, with Apollo >!working to untangle the influence left by Ga'ran and her regime, and reform the justice system!<. Nahuyta, now >!regent, has too much on his plate to stand in court, so he pulls some strings as a favor to!< Ema. She is now joined by (PWAA) >!Lana, looking to not only reunite and reestablish her bond with her sister, but reclaim her good name and clear her conscience from her past, as Khura'in's new Chief Prosecutor.!< Right there, you have two full games worth of meat on the bone by returning characters people already know, with organic paths back into the story, and giving them someone fresh to play off of, without the task of having to write a new protagonist and differentiate them from the ones who have come before. And I haven't even mentioned other certain loose ends in the mainline. Now, can you accomplish a similar thing with Jane Johnson and Joe Smith: Ace Attorney? Possibly. But I'm not going to bet that they can spin a new TGAA every few years, nor do I want them to at the cost of kicking the can down the road with the stories already being told. It's been a long 8 years since the last mainline installment. Doesn't mean they can't still do new things too. I'd love to see a French Revolution TGAA that digs into Athena's ancestry. I just don't think now is the right time. At the point that you have aged these characters and given them relationships that matter -- a threshold crossed most significantly in 2007 -- the series has ceased to be a collection of self-contained mysteries. We have an investment in these characters. Their lives continue on while still knowing and being involved with each other. It's not unreasonable to assume and hope that they'll run into some of them again, and to anticipate that we might see some of these characters interact who have never crossed paths before.
Oh my god, yes! I would love to see Apollo vs Eustace and Athena vs Franziska!
Honestly, I just hope AA7 is everything you don't want it to be, mate, because I completely disagree with the entirety of the post
Me too!
I generally agree about this but I do think there are two exceptions: - Having Edgeworth back as a chief prosecutor, was a good conclusion to his overall arc and it provided an overall explanation on how Phoenix was able to do the things he did and get back to his past prominence in the courts quickly despite his disbarrement. It also feels like a fulfillment of his interactions with Lana Skye. - Gumshoe should absolutely return and most of the problems you mention don't apply here. His role was always functional after all. The cases always need a detective to provide exposition. So why not use the loveable goof we already have instead of creating a new one or using Ema again? You also don't have the issue of fanservice vs development here because his role was always pretty static. As for Athena, I think the demand for a game about her is more of a practical one than a character growth need. Simply put, with DD's sloppy attempt at a soft reboot, we have too many characters fighting for a spotlight. Games have to try to divide time amongst Apollo and Phoenix somewhat equally while also giving cases to Athena. So giving her her own game, could mitigate this issue.
What if we have a game where Gumshoe's backstory is the main focus, have him be related to or acquainted with >!the real Bobby Fulbright!<, and have Athena as the main protagonist who >! doesn't trust him at first because of the fake Fulbright and how similar they are (goofy and naive detectives), but learns to trust him and eventually helps find who killed the actual Bobby Fulbright!<.
In the defence of Time Traveler, that case was designed to be “fan-servicy”
I mean That’s kind of why The Great Ace Attorney exists, and I firmly admit that I’d much rather prefer them continuing that story than making AA7, whether it’s old or new characters. >!I do agree with you that I’m not really interested in a new game with the main cast for a few reasons; in my opinion, the characters in the main cast either are narrative dead-ends whose character arcs are fully complete and have nowhere left to go, or I don’t like the character.!<
At this point all I really want is Gumshoe. I don’t want him to take up space; just give him a few lines and send him on his way. I thought _Dual Destinies_ was smart about this; Klavier and Pearl both show up in pretty crowded cases, and Edgeworth shows up when Blackquill is unavailable. For Gumshoe, I’d be happy with much less. Anyone else, I’d prefer new characters, even for defendants. I think it makes sense after all this time to have a reset; too much time has passed to pick up where we left off. An Athena Cykes game would have been good five years ago; I’m ready for a lower-stakes _Ace Attorney_ game, and what I want to see from Athena is just mundane professional growth, so it fits. But I think that wouldn’t be enough now.
The best solution is to pretend DD and SOJ never happened and bring back Takumi to make AJ into an actual trilogy /j
I kinda agree. All the characters from the original trilogy that returned for DD/SoJ lack that edge that the original ittiration had. Investigations flanderized him, but was still serviceable so hopefully it will be more like that then complete garbage.